Author's Note: Wow. It's been a while. I really apologise for the slow updates, but to be honest, I've just lost it. Whatever I had that let me write has kinda gone, so now I'm down to forcing out chapters. But, I do have a good climax lined up. It's just getting there that will be a challenge.

Still, I'm really sorry you had to wait this long. I'd imagine whatever readers I had have vanished in this time. Sorry!

On a side note, this chapter's battle between Olose and Furcas is very much inspired by a video game. Since so many of my previous stories had villains from outside sources, and this one doesn't, I wanted to homage a video game somewhere, so I did.

Hopefully it'll be fun.

And another good ol' Light Warrior cliché is fulfilled by the end of this chapter too!

Anyway, sorry about the wait, and enjoy!

CHAPTER XIX

"Ah. Altana's Champion." Furcas observed calmly. "I had thought you had given up."

"There was a slight delay." Olose replied calmly. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

"I can only assume you are referring to that fool, Abaj." Furcas sighed. "His charade was a clever one. Initiate a war from which he shall rule, but that has all changed now. It's time to stop playing games. This world is at war. With me."

"I'm hearin' a lot of talk." Olose laughed. "But, y'know, you don't look so tough."

"I'm sure you find yourself amusing, Champion." Furcas replied, the calm never leaving his voice. "But as I said, the time for games is over." He held up a hand, and purple swirling ball of energy formed in it. "My power is far beyond that of any werewolf. There is no dark magic outside my grasp, there is nothing I cannot do. You cannot stand against me."

He hurled the ball casually at Olose, whose eyes went wide as he dived aside. It smashed into the weapons shop behind him, and the entire shop exploded in a brilliant explosion of fire and magical energy.

"Dammit! I liked that shop!" Olose protested, trying to make light of the situation, but actually suddenly very worried. A magical explosion like that would be enough to destroy even a werewolf.

Before he could say anything else, another ball of energy flew at him. He leapt aside, but the ground exploded where it hit and knocked him to the ground.

"Olose!" Zinkata half yelled and half groaned from the floor, tossing the werewolf his sword. "It's a paladin blade! Blessed to repel dark magic!"

"How does that help?" Olose replied, snatching the sword out of the air as he staggered back to his feet. Furcas hurled another ball of energy. Olose dived aside again, but this time the explosion caught him, and hurtled him to the floor, hard.

He groaned, looking up as Furcas prepared to finish him off, another ball appeared in his hand.

"Pathetic." He stated. "The Light Warriors and Altana's Champion felled so easily. This world deserves to die."

"Dammit! Olose! Use the sword!" Zinkata groaned as the ball was hurtled in at Olose. Olose just managed to get to his feet and swiped with the blade, hitting the incoming energy ball with it. To his surprise, the ball of energy was knocked back, flying through the air back at Furcas.

"Ha! Let's see how you like it!" Olose taunted.

"Fool." Furcas stated casually, knocking the ball back at Olose with his arm. Olose, who was unprepared for it to come back at him, used all of his werewolf strength to fling himself away, again dodging the massive explosion.

"Okay. You can deflect them too…" Olose groaned. "Well, Furcas, up for a little sport?" Another ball appeared in Furcas's hand.

"I said the time for games was past. Now, die!" Furcas hurtled the ball at Olose, but the werewolf was ready, and knocked it back at him with his blade. "Hm!" Furcas exclaimed, knocking it back casually. Olose returned it again with his sword, this time leaping through the air as he did so, trying to move away from where Furcas would return it. Furcas however, easily beat it back at him, despite Olose's move. Olose returned it again, however, regardless.

"I think we're onto something here. Could be a whole new sport…" Olose joked, with his best attempt at a confident smile.

"You're as foolish as you are-" Furcas began, but before he could finish, arrows from a badly injured Voldos slammed into his back, and he let out a cry of pain. This distracted him long enough for the ball of energy to hit him.

Olose turned his eyes away from the explosion, and sighed, panting, dropping his sword.

"Well, that could have been harder." He said breathlessly, before wincing and closing his eyes. The smoke hadn't cleared. And he just knew what would happen when it did.

Although, in fact, Olose didn't get a chance to see that. Furcas sprang out of the smoke like a meteor, and crashed into Olose, sending him flying back.

"It was fun, Olose." Furcas began, picking up the werewolf by his legs and slamming him into the ground like a rag doll. "But it's over. You cannot harm me." Furcas released Olose, who slumped, defeated. "Yet, I will not kill you here." Furcas turned to address the Light Warriors. "None of you are a match for me. I have no reason to kill you. You will die when this world burns under Promethia's flame. Until then, so long."

Furcas walked off as the Light Warriors struggled to their feet. He gathered the bodies he could, and was gone by the time any of them could stand. Olose helped them to their feet, noticing that Vivli was still unconscious.

"Wow. She really is frail." He remarked.

"That guy hit hard." Zinkata said in her defence.

"I noticed." Olose replied, rubbing his jaw.

"Damn. Is it me or did we just get our asses kicked?" Bootus groaned, climbing to his feet.

"It's not you." Voldos commented, rolling his shoulder.

Olose paused as the others began to regroup, picking up the unconscious Vivli.

"I was winning, too." He protested miserably.

Vivli's eyes opened slowly to the site of clouds whizzing by, and she groaned loudly.

"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww." She moaned. "My head hurts…" She whimpered somewhat pathetically, before trying weakly to sit up. She felt somebody help her and she noticed she was on an airship. "Oh, so that's why I feel sick." She muttered. "Where are we? What's going on?"

Olose helped her up, and it was revealed that both the werewolf and the Light Warriors were all gathered on board.

"You've been out for a while, Viv." Olose began to explain. "We're heading to San d'Oria."

"Oh." Vivli muttered. "Urm, why?"

"Furcas's little interference stopped the attack on Bastok, and with Karst revealed to be dead, Cid has taken control of the city, under martial law." Zinkata voiced up.

"Which makes us the peace envoy. Turns out people listen to Light Warriors." Voldos explained.

"Wait. Cid has taken charge of Bastok?" Vivli questioned. "Then who's flying the airship?"

"Who'd ya think?" Bootus asked, slumping down on a crate.

Vivli glanced at the bridge and sighed.

"Crazy Steve…"

"Guys…" Vivli span around as she heard Talia's voice, slightly surprised to see that she was still on the airship. "What the hell is that?"

Olose's daughter was firmly pointing off the edge of the ship, to which the others flocked, and suddenly all gasped in shock.

They were flying over the dunes on their way to San d'Oria, but what was below them had never been there before. A gigantic black fortress, made from some perfectly smooth stone, and raised from the ground, with massive spiked towers reaching into the sky, almost as high as the airship was flying.

"That has to be Furcas…" Remasa commented.

"What's that? Flying around it? Vultures?" Vivli asked, pointing downwards.

"No. Not vultures." Olose commented simply. "They're too big. They're…"

"…Dragons." Zinkata finished.
"How can you tell?" Talia asked nervously.

"Because there's one right behind us." Zinkata said through gritted teeth.

Sure enough, a gigantic black shadowy dragon was soaring along behind the Raven III, and its mouth was glowing.

"Airships and dragons don't mix. Trust us on that one." Voldos explained to Talia.

"Steve! Evasive manoeuvres!" Olose screamed. "Now!"

"Hold on to something!" Bootus yelled to Talia.

"Ohhh, here we go." Vivli moaned as the Raven III dropped out of the air into a dive, the fireball flying directly over it.

The tiny airship whizzed down, flying past the new giant fortress, multiple dragons breaking off to follow it as it did.

"Steve! Aim for the Plateau! Take us lower!" Zinkata ordered, clinging to the deck desperately. A huge group of fireballs whizzed past the Raven as it powered itself along.

"Lower?" Talia protested, looking at the ground flying past them. "Aren't we low enough?"

"Into the canyons!" Zinkata continued.

"WHAT?" Every other party member screamed.

"You're crazy!" Crazy Steve voiced up. "Just how I like it."

The Raven IIIsoared along the grass as it left the Dunes, causing sheep and worms alike to look up in startled shock. Fireballs slammed into the ground all around it as it weaved in an attempt to dodge. A sickeningly loud crack filled the air as it knocked over a couple of trees from flying too low.

"Sorry!" Crazy Steve yelled as it flew by, before approaching one of the canyons that populated the Plateau.

Steve took one look and turned the ship into it at a nose dive.

"We won't last two seconds in here!" Olose yelled, knowing just how short the canyons could be.

"We don't need to!" Zinkata yelled back as Steve pulled the Raven III up and out of the canyon, just before smashing into the end wall.

The entire bottom half of the airship was ripped away as the Raven just failed to get high enough and the entire ship began to spiral out of control. However, the dragons faired even less well, slamming into the canyon wall.

Vivli screamed in blind terror as the Raven plummeted from the sky and smashed into the ground, skiing along the Plateau, ripping away what was left of its hull and smashing into the mountain side as a pile of rubble.

It was as quieter day in San d'Oria as they came when a young blonde hume woman was out hunting. It had been a while since her husband, a tall dark elvaan had left.

And now she saw an airship under attack in the distance.

And Emilen knew that Voldos was back.

"Always in trouble." She sighed lightly, noticing already the San d'Orian guard pouring towards the rapidly crashing ship. "This won't end well."

She let out a whistle and a chocobo came running across the grass, onto which she jumped. For a moment the airship seemed to disappear, dipping into the Plateau.

"This won't end well at all." She repeated, before suddenly seeing the airship burst up again, but this time there was an incredible crash as it hit the ground. And then she could see no more, apart from the trail of black smoke left by the horrific crash landing. "Go, boy! He might be in trouble!" Emilen ordered, and the chocobo shot off, over taking the marching troops.

Voldos woke up with daze, looking at a blurry brown blob looming over him. He reacted quickly and skilfully, shutting his eyes and deciding to go back to sleep.

"Voldos? You okay?" Came a voice.

"Mppphmmppphm!" Came the elvaan's sophisticated reply.

"Voldos!" Olose yelled, insisting. Voldos jerked into life, and the blob formed the jacket surrounding Olose Sampson.

"Oh, right. Ow." He groaned. "We okay?"
"All okay!" Vivli beamed, surprisingly being unhurt.

"Okay is not the word I'd use." Talia grumbled, getting a nod of agreement from Remasa, who was healing herself with a spell.

"Urr, Voldos?" Zinkata called out.

"Yeah?" Voldos wondered over, joining his fellow Light Warrior.

"Welcome home." Zinkata grumbled sarcastically, pointing to the San d'Orian army that had surrounded the airship.

And at the front of them all sat Emilen, still on her chocobo, smiling happily.

"Well, dear," She grinned, "You really can make an entrance!"